Here’s the beginning of the play-through, for those who wanna be caught up
The Crescent Rivulet takes time and effort but not as much as the Temple of Visions. Throughout Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy, I’ve noticed that Babineau tends to use treasure chests as environmental guideposts toward things that bear investigating. Such rewards may or may not be progress.
The Crescent Rivulet was the first dungeon I’ve encountered that seemed to have nothing but treasure chests and monsters.
Eventually, I found an Artifact for Bosche, which apparently improves his Procure ability. The closest thing I can compare Procure to is Setzer’s Slot ability, what with randomly generating a move from a roster.
The Viral Tendril ability item lies in a nearby treasure chest. This teaches Ami Virulent Breath which poisons an enemy, with a slight chance of simultaneously inflicting other status effects. Virulent Breath only targets a single enemy, though, as opposed to the usual multi-target Bad Breath. A memoir page can also be easily be found in the area, along with a chest of Bodkin Arrows- a decent acquisition for Bosche.
And let us not forget the Lucavi nethicite, which bestows 50% passive resistance to Shadow. Leveling bonuses are max HP+7 and max MP+3.
In the waterfall pool with the Lucavi nethicite, the Bodkin Arrows and Merlin’s Staff, there is the moogle you usually find at the end of the dungeon, who leads you to the exit.
…
Might this not be where we’re supposed to be after all? However grateful I am for more blue magic and nethicite?
I returned to the Temple of Visions with Bosche at the head of my party, to see if he has some kind of obstacle transcendence ability…like putting two halves of the key together? He does like rare and exotic stuff, right?
If he does have an obstacle transcendence ability, it does not appear to be putting ancient, magical artifacts together. Like Siegfried, Bosche also appears to be unable to recover MP from Ami’s Cheer ability.
You know who might be able to put the key together? Someone at the Arcane Library.
No one did, though. This was also where I found my second conspicuous glitch: I entered the Arcane Library through the eastern bridge and appeared at Surgate Waystation. This happened three times in a row. When I tried entering through the western bridge I made it into the Arcane Library (for all the good it did).
Also: Bluebell apparently cannot set foot on the campsite outside of the Nightmare Cave. I’ve lately begun to wonder if Bluebell is an early taste of travel potential and the scale of the map, like the early experiences with chocobos and vehicles in III, IV and V.
Finding myself back at square one, I made a list of every town and city in Lindblum, since the only advice on offer is to ride around on Bluebell and see what people have to say.
Between one thing and another, I did some grinding. Elina learns Regen at level 20. Vera summoning Kirin or Ami casting White Wind is good for benefitting multiple party members but at least Elina can now do it one at a time.
At level 18, Nobumasa learns Reppu (single target Wind elemental attack) and Shokuto (group heal).
Perhaps the soldier in Altair meant that Jack lives in the Rotunda of Revelry, rather than the Crescent Rivulet. But the guard outside of Jack’s office says we need an appointment…
I was starting to run out of ideas. So I went back to the Temple of Visions. I tried Darius at the front of the party, to see if he had any relevant obstacle transcendence abilities. He was no more useful than Bosche. Then I, uh…tried…something…
Soooo…all I had to do to enter the central path in the Temple in Visions was insert the Crystal Half-Moon Keys into the crescent-shaped slots directly outside of it. Go me.
X_X
(You can steal Hyper Ethers from the Dying Breath monsters, btw)
Moving on with the damn dungeon…we find Vahn in a room, in front of what looks like the shade of his father. Vahn says that his mother Elise never told him anything about his father except that he was a traveler.
From the ghostly image of Kain Silverson, the King of Branch, we learn that he lost his wife Hilda to illness. When she died, Kain found himself falling for one of her former handmaidens, Elise.
When Elise became pregnant with Kain’s child, she relocated to Valla with a cover story. Elise told anyone who asked that her son’s father was a traveling Lenadian merchant.
Vahn asks his father why he suddenly decided to seize the crystals. Kain says that the answer rests at the Citadel, in the heart of Ivalice.
Kain’s image fades and Vahn tells Ami that- upon hearing Malacore’s words about his parentage -he felt something within himself, drawing him to the Temple of Visions. Before this conversation can go any further, though, we are met with a new apparition.
This being, Mnemosyne, says that “(M)emories are required to sustain the power of the Temple of Visions. I need more memories. Your memories!”
A boss fight, naturally, ensues.
Laka’s Dispel green magic comes in handy once Mnemosyne starts Protecting, Shelling and Regening herself. Mnemosyne also absorbs Holy. She is weak to Shadow which is a decent reason to have Darius in the fight (during the attempt in the screenshot at the top of the entry I got party-wiped :P).
You want Darius’ Darkside attack with you on this. Nobumasa’s Shadow attack Yousei Hi was not particularly useful to me here. Mokusatsu will reliably blind her but- if Ami knows Virulent Breath -you could just stick with your beast of a blue mage. It is also fairly easy for Laka to steal her Angel Glove (I had equipped her with a Sneak Ring, which could have been a factor). You want the Angel Glove for your mages, since it buffs magic and spirit by 35 and reduces MP costs for the wearer by 20%.
Vera wants to start the search in Ivalice at the top of the pyramid: Lord Zeul Raithwall. Darius believes that Lord Zeul is the strongest swordsman in the world. Thus far, Zeul’s connection with Malacore remains murky.
Upon returning to Lindblum Castle and debriefing with Regent Gran, Vahn decides that the fate of the Earth Crystal is more time-sensitive than whatever waits in Ivalice.
For Gran’s part, his forces remain perilously divided. Unfortunately, securing the gateway to the Underworld at Mt. Koltz still depends on decreasing the demands of the civil war on the Lindblum military.
It seems the rebels now seek to conquer the Magic Library, which preceded the Arcane Library and has fallen into disuse. Baram von Muir is personally accompanying his fighting forces there.
At North Dock, Shiroma and the Eternal Blue wait to convey us to the Magic Library, on an island to the southeast; further south than the plot has taken us, thus far.
Aand holy crap is the magic library hard with a level 20 (Ami), 15 (Oalston), 22 (Laka) and 16 (Vahn). High encounter rate, with status effects and multi-target attacks. Maybe make sure your party is leveled to 17 or over. I then switched to Ami (20), Nobumasa (18), Laka (22) and Vera (18).
The party finds Baram von Muir in the company of two of his rebels- Hanuman and Porkus -whom Baram transforms into…well…
The Reppu Ninjutsu (Wind elemental attack) is effective. Virulent Breath can also be a fun way to find out what status effects a given enemy is vulnerable to. You can steal a Thunder Blade from Porkus and a Blizzard Sword from Hanuman.
Siegfried remarks that Baram using this magic on anyone- rebel or otherwise -is just wrong.
Vahn and company tell Regent Gran about Baram’s acquisition of the Magic that turns people into monsters. Siegfried is particularly worried about the citizens of Surgate, who live under Baram’s authority.
Regent Gran, to Siegfried: “You sound familiar, shrouded man. Have we met?”
Siegfried waves it off.
Regent Gran then joins us temporarily for the journey to Surgate. What he brings to the party is a repertoire of both white and black magic (that would make our Edgar-looking Gran a sage by the standards of IV, right?).
Until now, Surgate has had the shrill, militaristic horn version of Under Martial Law. During this visit, we hear the slower, more natural version of Under Martial Law with the violins, harp-plucking, flutes and clarinets.
Every door, it seems, is locked from the inside, against the Lindblum soldiers who arrived ahead of us. One such soldier opines that the rebels may have “pulled back to their base at the mountainside.”
The Surgate Woodlands, behind the town, marks a more ethereal and drifting musical shift. Interesting contrast after Under Martial Law. Separate from the music, the transition reminds me of going from Bone Village to the Sleeping Forest, in VII.
The Chimeras in the Surgate Woodlands are intriguingly difficult to steal from. I started off with Ami Goblin Punching and Oalston casting Comet for a few turns. Then I switched to Ami hitting them with Virulent Breath, Oalston casting Demi to whittle away at the HP without killing them and Laka trying to steal for every turn. Got their HP into the single digits. Soon Demi wasn’t dealing any damage.
Not a damn thing to show for it, the first time. The second time I swiped a Guard Shard (increases defense permanently by one).
Hyper Wrists can be stolen from the ostrich-like Kiwoks. The Chimeras have pretty good exp yield but the Kiwoks usually come with a few Tarantulas. If you want the grinding to stay good, think of ways to kill them before the Tarantulas begin to flee (Storm Breath and Fira and Gran casting Fire has been working for me).
While the Surgate Woodlands have a lot of treasure chests, a lot of them have tiny increments of gil or middling restorative items. They are also more scattered compared to other dungeon-like areas, so good job on the misdirection Babineau.
Eventually, though, the empty treasure chests will start acting as progression markers and the forest will feel a bit less labyrinthine. An arcing, upward path through the trees beginning in the southeast corner of the map will slowly reveal itself.
While wandering and fighting my way through the Surgate Woodlands, Oalston reached level 16 and learned Blizzara and Thundara.
Once you penetrate the mountainside base, you’ll find that Baram has turned several of his rebels into Sabin-headed homunculi. In the left hand chamber is a Sabin-monster called Bellerophon from whom you can steal a pike. Cadmus waits in the chamber to the right and can be shaken down for a Shadow Staff. Within both are Rebel Base Keys, which can be used to unlock the central chamber without wandering away doing an optional dungeon first (not if you don’t want to, anyway).
Baram’s last two rebels- Benero and Zenero -have lost trust in him after seeing what he’s been doing to anyone else. The party arrives, seemingly, in the nick of time…only for Baram to chortle about how he can generate as much muscle as he wants and transforms Benero and Zenero. Baram lunges to the foreground, turns into a Pan-like goat monster (with his executive function apparently intact, unlike his underlings) and the three of them attack.
Keep the Wind attacks coming against Zenero and Benero. Both of them are vulnerable to poison and Baram has a Shadow Ring that can be stolen. No Magic appears to work on Baram except non-elemental spells like Goblin Punch, Demi and Comet. Once Benero and Zenero go down, though, and you can focus keeping your party healed and spamming physical attacks, it will go by quickly.
With Baram finally dead, everyone remains in shock over the monster-transformation ability he learned in the Magic Library. Regent Gran sends people to older library to see what could be found in Baram’s wake.
The death of Baram also means that the rebellion is over with. All that remains now is Mt. Koltz and the barrier to the Underworld.
Here’s the sauce
Until next time, TBC
AilixChaerea 